How to use 'Columnize?'

Hello. I am trying to use Visual Composer’s ‘Columnize’ feature to add two columns of content. I am having issues though. When I click Add Element–>Columnize, the usual visual editor pops up (see attached screenshot). What do I do next? I want to add two columns. In the first column will be a small image, and in the second column will be one sentence of text.

Also, is there any official documentation to the ‘Columnize’ feature? I searched online, but couldn’t find anything.

Thanks.

Hi There,

Add your paragraph there, and the columnize will split it.

If you want to have more control over it I would recommend using two columns instead.

Hope it helps

Thanks for your reply.

Add your paragraph there, and the columnize will split it.

I’m not sure what you mean by this. How does it know how many columns to use? And how does it know exactly where to break each column?

If you want to have more control over it I would recommend using two columns instead.

I’m also not sure what you mean by this–can you clarify? My goal with using ‘Columnize’ was to split my content into two columns.

Also, you didn’t answer my question about official ‘Columnize’ documentation–does it exist?

Thanks.

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Hi there,

It’s fixed to two columns, it will split your text in two. You should use standard columns instead.

About your second question, please check this https://vc.wpbakery.com/video-academy/add-row-column-visual-composer-wordpress/

Thanks!

Thanks for the reply. I’m still quite unclear on a few things though.

It’s fixed to two columns, it will split your text in two.

OK I understand that there will be only two columns. But you did not answer my question about how it knows exactly where to split my text into the second column.

You should use standard columns instead.

OK. I would be interested in attempting that solution. But what are ‘standard columns?’

About your second question, please check this https://vc.wpbakery.com/video-academy/add-row-column-visual-composer-wordpress/

I watched that video, but it does not explain how to use ‘Columnize.’ Is there any official documentation regarding Visual Composer’s ‘Columnize’ feature? Please let me know if I am misunderstanding anything.

Thanks.

It just splits your text almost 50/50 depending on the amount of text. There’s no control as to where to split.

It is one of the layout elements. See https://theme.co/apex/forum/t/shortcodes-column/154. It’s the shortcode version but it is essentially the same.

There is no documentation for Visual Composer but it is essentially the same as the shortcode version. See https://theme.co/apex/forum/t/shortcodes-columnize/155

Thanks.

It just splits your text almost 50/50 depending on the amount of text. There’s no control as to where to split.

OK I understand now. I also understand that I probably don’t want to use ‘Columnize’ in this case.

It is one of the layout elements.

OK. I tried to follow the video you linked above to add columns. It indicated I needed to add a ‘Row’ element. But I don’t have a ‘Row’ option. See the attached screenshot for my options. How should I proceed?

See https://theme.co/apex/forum/t/shortcodes-column/154. It’s the shortcode version but it is essentially the same.

I read that article, but it was essentially gibberish to me. Let’s try to resolve the above issue, then hopefully the content of this article will become clear to me.

There is no documentation for Visual Composer

OK thanks for that.

but it is essentially the same as the shortcode version. See https://theme.co/apex/forum/t/shortcodes-columnize/155

Again, it’s not entirely clear to me what that means. Let’s skip it for now.

Hi There,

Based on your comments I can see you are just starting with Visual Composer.

Visual composer is a great plugin, but considering the stage you are, I would reccomend using Cornerstone instead, in my opinion it has a much more friendly interface and since you need to face a learning curve with both plugins, my personal reccomendation would be go with Cornerstone and you will be able to achieve many more things much faster. When I started using Wordpress took me a while to understand VC, it is not hard, but the information is not so clear as on Cornerstone where you can see at the same times the changes you made it.

In case you want to use VC, I reccomend you watching some video tutorials so you better understand it. Hope the image below clarify your question.

Hope it helps

Thanks for the reply. I think at this point, I’d like to understand how to do this with VC.

In case you want to use VC, I reccomend you watching some video tutorials so you better understand it.

I agree. For three days now I’ve been asking your staff for documentation regarding VC’s ‘Columnize.’ I had to ask multiple times, and Christian finally told me today that none existed. He linked a video tutorial for another method of adding columns, which I’ve already mentioned I watched. As I also mentioned, the video instructed me to add a ‘Row’ element. But I cannot find that element. I have clicked the ‘+’ sign, as per your screenshot, but I still do not see where to add a ROW. I may be overlooking it though. Are you able to send a screenshot indicating where exactly I click? That might help.

To be clear, here is the content I would like to split across two columns (see screenshot below).

Thanks.

Hi There,

The columnize element, will split the content in two columns, you wont have control over what point the content is being devided as we explained previously.

Based on your layout, you won’t fina an option to add a row as you are already inside a row which is devided in two columns.

left column with 2/3 right columns 1/3.

You cannot devide the right column on 1/6 + 1/6 without chaging the whole column including the content above.

The alternatives are:

1- Add a complete new ROW and devided it on 2/3 + 1/6 + 1/6

2 - Or you can float your image to the left, if your intention is to have an image on the left and text wrapped on the right.

For that you can add to your text element

<img src="http://folder/image.png" style="float: left;"> Your text here

If you need further assistance, provide the URL of your website.

Thank you

Thank for that.

The columnize element, will split the content in two columns, you wont have control over what point the content is being devided as we explained previously.

I’m aware of this, and because of it, I’m no longer interested in adding columns via ‘Columnize.’ I only mentioned ‘Columnize’ to you because you suggested I watch some VC tutorials. I would if I could, but tutorials for ‘Columnize’ don’t exist. It seems like a confusing and poorly thought out feature.

1- Add a complete new ROW and devided it on 2/3 + 1/6 + 1/6

This sounds like a decent option. But I still don’t see how to ‘Add a new ROW.’ Are you able to send a screenshot specifying exactly which is the ‘row’ element? Are you sure you don’t mean ‘Content Band’ or ‘Container?’

If you need further assistance, provide the URL of your website.

Thanks for that, and I just might do that. But right now I’m interested in learning how to do this myself, so I can do it on my own in the future. I don’t want to have to submit my site to support every time I need columns.

Thanks.

Hey @cagross,

Yes, the “Row” is sometimes referenced as a “Content Band” in Visual Composer. Our integration with Visual Composer uses their API’s to overwrite their integration and use our own shortcodes, but we cannot change references in some parts of the tool. So while adding a “Row” is the same as adding a “Content Band” with our integration turned on, sometimes it will be referenced as a “Row” and other times as a “Content Band.” As mentioned above, while Visual Composer is great and served our community for a long time, we highly recommend all users switch to using Cornerstone with X as you will find it has a much smoother integration on all levels. You are certainly welcome to continue using Visual Composer if you wish, but you will occasionally run into little quirks like this that might make it confusing at times, and you should also be aware that as we have noted in our changelogs and documentation from the past, no further development happens in Visual Composer, we only do maintenance and security fixes on that end. This means that you will not have access to the latest and greatest building features that X has to offer via Cornerstone. Again, you are free to do as you wish, but a move to Cornerstone is highly recommended for many different reasons.

Cheers!

Thanks for the reply.

As mentioned above, while Visual Composer is great and served our community for a long time, we highly recommend all users switch to using Cornerstone with X as you will find it has a much smoother integration on all levels.

I may be amenable to this. But before I do so, the page in-question is already 90% complete using VC. Would I be able to implement only these two columns using Cornerstone, leaving the rest of the page as VC? If I have to re-create the entire page from scratch using Cornerstone, it will be difficult to justify the time required.

You are certainly welcome to continue using Visual Composer if you wish, but you will occasionally run into little quirks like this that might make it confusing at times.

I appreciate your help in this matter. But to be honest, I feel a lot of the delay and confusion in this ticket was mainly due to poor comprehension on the part of your staff. Multiple staff members kept instructing me to add a ‘row,’ even after I made it clear I did not have that option. I even sent a screenshot indicating so, yet your staff still told me to ‘add a row.’ Twice I asked your staff to send a screenshot, and they never did. What else can I do?

Thanks.

No.

Sorry for the confusion. Your content is already in a column and columns does not have a row option so you need to use the Text element and insert a Content Band and the Column shortcodes. The columns should go inside the content band. See the following screenshots to see what I mean.

The result should look like this:

OK. I’m getting closer to understanding. To be clear, are you saying that in this particular case, I need to first add a text element, then insert both the content band and the columns into it by manually typing shortcodes into the text editor? If not, what am I misunderstanding?

Hi there,

Yes that is correct since shortcodes should be able to work when you add them in a Text element.

Let us know how it goes.

OK thanks for this. I eventually went with the ‘float: right’ suggested put forth earlier. But I’m glad I now know a little more about columns with VC.

We can consider this resolved.

You’re welcome! :slight_smile: